Sunday, February 19, 2017

The jazz pianist Aaron Diehl posed a scenario Sunday afternoon during his
two-hour set at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor, MI. What would’ve occurred
had Jelly Roll Morton and George Gershwin crossed paths. The musicians never
met, and although each was accomplished
and prolific, their musical styles were different as night and day. Diehlbelieves if
the legends had met there would’ve been a mutual respect of each other’s
virtuosity. That is the impression Diehl left during his flawless presentation
titled “Jelly and George,” which featured the Grammy-winning
chanteuse Cecile McLorin Salvant and pianist Adam Birnbaum assuming the role of
George Gershwin. The concert was a mixing of Morton’s and Gershwin’s
compositions. The interesting thing was Diehl opted to play obscure materials
from Morton and Gershwin. Diehl was gracious enough to warn the audience that
if they expected to hear Morton’s and Gershwin’s popular material the audience
was going to be disappointed. The concert opened with Diel and Birnbaum trading
on Gershwin’s “Prelude One” and “Jelly Roll’s Blues.” Diehl’s quartet clarinetist Evan Christopher, trombonist Corey
Wilcox, trumpeter Riley Mulherkar, bassist Paul Sikivie and drummer Lawrence
Leathers joined in on “Mississippi Mildred.”
Listening to Diel and Birnbaum reinterpreting Morton’s and Gershwin’s obscure material
was worth the price of admission, but what took the two-hour set over the top
was Cecile McLorin Salvant. In a short time, Salvant has built a solid
reputation as a foremost interpreter of the great American Songbook. Salvant
isn’t big on stagecraft, but who gives a rat’s ass because her voice is so unbelievably
beautiful it gives your soul goose bumps.
Guaranteed people will awake tomorrow still thinking about Salvant’s rendering
of “Wining Boy” and “Ask me Again.”Diehl’s lone moment in the sun came during
his brilliant soloing on “Finger Breakers.”
Diehl’s band was tight as banjo strings
on “The Sidewalk Blues.” “Jelly and
George” was prefect from top to bottom. Diehl and company present a lot of music, so an encore seemed overkill. The
audience was so thoroughly worked up doubtfully they would’ve allowed the musicians to leave
Ann Arbor had they refused an encore. As a gesture of appreciation for all the
love the audience showed Diehl, he performed three additional tunes.

Saturday, February 18, 2017

Tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano launched
the third concert of the Paradise Jazz Series, and drummer Brian Blade’s The
Fellowship Band closed it. The two leaders shared a double bill Friday
evening at Orchestra Hall in mid-town Detroit where the PJS is held. Both leaders are from divergent points
of the jazz spectrum. Lovano is a post-bop heavy, and Blade is, somewhat of an
experimentalist. Of the two, Lovano has logged the most frequent flier miles, having
a colored career spanning four-plus
decades, and also being one of the major faces of the famed Blue Note Records
for 30 plus years. Lovano has made over 20 albums. As he’s proven throughout his career, and which was on full display
Friday evening, he’s a saxophonist who plays every single note with a sense of
purpose and beauty. There’s nothing pretentious about his playing. During his too-short set with his current working band, the Classic Jazz Quartet – pianist Lawrence
Fields, bassist Peter Slavov, and drummer Lamy Istrefi—Lovano treated the near-capacity audience to some of his original
material, opening the set with “Fort Worth”.
The quartet burned rubber on that number from the start to the conclusion. Then
moved into a slower tempo gem titled “Our Daily Bread”.There was some fist pumping soloing from Fields and
Slavov. It was Lovano who captivated playing sweetly cadenzas at the end of several tumes. The quart had the stage sufficiently preheated for Blade.

Blade, one of the greatest living jazz
drummers, and a key member of the Wayne Shorter Quartet
is no stranger to the PJS. He’s performed the series many times with Shorter,
and Blade performed the opening 2016-2017 series as a member of the Chick Corea Trio.
However, Friday evening was Blade’s first time at the series as a bandleader.
It was a gamble booking Blade’s The Fellowship Band, which has a decidedly different
approach to swinging. The core PJS demographic favors bop and post-bop. That’s
what that core audience have been fed
since the PJS launched. Blade is a magician, however, and the entire set he had
the audience drooling. Blade performed with only one commercial break to
introduce his bandmates saxophonists Myron
Walden and Melvin Butler, pianist Jon Cowherd, and bassist Chris Thomas. The
band played a kind of modernist swing no jazz critic has categorized yet. Blade
called tunes from The Fellowship’s discography. The tunes had a recognizable formula,
starting at a slow molasses thick tempo, and then midway through the band started
hauling ass. Blade chops power The
Fellowship much like his chops power Shorter’s quartet. Blade is
inarguably one of a kind. And the success of his all too short set Friday evening
was a gamble proved worth taking. Pairing Lovano with Blade was a fitting
contrast that worked.

Monday, February 6, 2017

When word spread January 26th via social mediaS that
jazz titan, concert promoter Wesley “Skip” Norris was in a fatal car
accident a collective sadness hit Detroit’s jazz community, and surely in other
cities where jazz is a big part of the city’s cultural fabric. Although Skip
epitomized what writer Ralph Ellison dubbed many decades ago a Renaissance man,
a man of intellectual hunger, depth, and character Skip’s most recognizable and celebrated
trait was his advocacy of jazz. In all the years as a jazz
journalist and jazz blogger, I never met
an individual more passionate and knowledgeable about jazz than Skip was. Over
the years, I would see or hear Skip at many of the jazz concerts around Detroit
and Ann Arbor. On many occasions, I wondered about that dapper man in the audience
egging on the musicians, shouting out their names at the conclusion of an
inspired solo. I became formal jazz friends with Skip after interviewing him
about a new concert series he was putting on at the Northwest Activity Center
called Jazz at the Center, which in its brief run had world-class jazz acts
such as trumpeter Roy Hargrove, drummer/bandleader Ralph Peterson, and the
all-star jazz ensemble the Cookers. From that time forward, I made sure I caught
every concert Skip had a hand in producing, including the JD Allen, Joe Locke, and
Joey Calderazzo hits at the Detroit Groove Society concert series. And
whenever, I ran into Skip at a show in town I was always a recipient of one of
his bear hugs. I was sincerely awed by Skip’s encyclopedic knowledge of jazz,
and more so that he was personal friends with just about every jazz musician
of note throughout the country. And he seemed to have a warehouse of stories.
At Hartford Memorial Baptist Church Monday Skip’s family, friends, and many
from Detroit’s jazz community participated in a home going service befitting a man
who lived a truly exemplary and blessed life. Those who got a chance to share
their experiences and recollections of Skip characterized him foremost as a man
of unyielding faith. Everybody who wanted to speak about Skip wasn't afforded the opportunity. Had they we’d
still be in the church listening. It was
easy to take from the speakers that Skip was genuinely beloved. Ronald Robinson
Lockett, one of Skip's dearest friends,
jokingly said that God took Skip from us because God needed someone with Skip’s
know how to promote jazz concerts in heaven. There was jazz music during the
service at the appropriate moments from bassist Robert Hurst, saxophonist
Victor Goines, and drummer/trumpeter
Ralph Peterson. During the remarks section of the service, another of Skip’s
closest friends Jacques Mullins noted during the service the greatest testament to a
man is to see how many people come out for his home going. Hartford Memorial was filled with people who as another speaker
pointed out loved them some Skip Norris.